Simulated upholstery for caskets



Nov. 24, 1964 a. c. HILLENBRAND 3,157,936

SIMULATED UPHOLSTERY FOR GASKETS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 8, 1962INVENTCDR.

Nov. 24, 1964 G. c. VHILLENBRAND SIMULATED UPHOLSTERY FOR GASKETS 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 8, 1962 I N VENTOR.

Nov. 24, 1964 e. c. HILLENBRAND 3,157,936

SIMULATED UPHQLSTERY FOR GASKETS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 8, 1962INVENTOR.

BY MW [770M823 United States Patent 3,157,936 SBWULATED UPHGLSTERY FURCASKETS George Carl Hillenbrand, llatesville, End, ass-ignor toBatesville Casket Company, inn, Batesville, Ind, a corporation ofIndiana Filed May 8, 1962, Ser. No. 133,090 3 Claims. (Cl. 27-49) Thisinvention relates to casket making and more particularly the inventionis directed to the manufacture of the simulated casket upholstery.

For many years casket making has required the services of highlyskilled, highly trained and highly paid upholsterers to apply beautifulupholstery to a casket shell. Because the application of the upholsteryto the casket shell is a craftsmans art, the production of caskets wasalmost built around the activity of the upholsterers. The throughput ofcaskets was determined by the production rate of the upholsterers.

The work of the upholsterers is something less than uniform and,depending upon the degree of skill of the upholsterer, the products of amanufacturer may have varying degrees of quality. To improve thissituation, a preformed casket insert which simulates upholstery has beendeveloped by the assignee of the present invention and is described inPatents Nos. 2,664,615, 2,867,030 and 2,964,824. Those patents aredirected to the formation of an insert for the lid of a casket, theinsert being formed by four fabric covered paperboard rolls which whendisposed in a casket lid form a frame and a fabric covered paperboardpanel which is joined to the rolls to form a center portion of theinsert. The thus formed insert is either tacked into position along itsperipheral edges in the casket or is snapped into position in a mannerdescribed in those patents.

The preformed insert has the advantage of eliminating the need forhighly skilled upholsterers and by imparting greater uniformity andattractiveness to the interior design of caskets. Additionally, it hasbeen found that a comparatively unskilled person can form a casketinterior A much more rapidly than had been possible with the skilledupholsterer.

The present invention is directed toward improving the versatility ofthe preformed casket insert. While it has been possible to duplicate thework of upholsterers an in fact to improve upon their work through theuse of the preformed insert, nevertheless ability to provide varyingdesigns is limited by the need for covering the panel members withfabric. In accordance with the present invention these limitations havebeen removed by the employment of a molded or decorated sheet,preferably plas tic, in the center panel of the preformed insert. Themolded plastic sheet obviously permits an infinite variation in thedesigns which can be employed in decorating a casket.

Certain qualities of sheet material give rise to problems when thesheets are attached to the inserts. The principal difiiculty is that inthe period between manufacture and burial, the casket might be subjectedto many variations in temperature, humidity and the like which cause thematerial to expand and contract. For example, when caskets are shippedin boxcars from the manufacturer to a distant point, the boxcar mightwell remain on a siding and be subjected to high temperatures until theinside of the boxcar becomes quite hot. Under such extreme temperatureconditions, the plastic has a tendency to warp and, regardless of theattractiveness of the original design on the center panel, if it isbadly warped it is not likely to be acceptable to the customer.

The present invention is directed to a solution to the problem, theinvention residing in the manner in which the panel sheet is secured toits surrounding frame members.

It has been an objective of the present invention to provide a methodand means for attaching the center panel forming member to theassociated frame forming members whereby the sheet is substantially freeto expand and contract under the stress of varying temperatures withoutany perceptible distortion appearing due to warping.

These and other objectives of the invention will become more readilyapparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a casket lid with which the presentinvention is employed;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the sheet and the backingmember to which it is attached;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 3-3' of FIG. 1;

PKG. 4 is a fragmentary view partly in section taken in the direction ofthe arrows 4-4 in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of apparatus for assembling theinvention.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a top section 10 of a casket isillustrated in elevational view, the top section having a premoldedinsert 11. The top section is normally provided with the usual dome-likeconfiguration and is terminated in inwardly directed iianges 12. Theseflanges may have strips of wood attached to them forming a rec tangularframe projecting inwardly from the flanges to which the premolded insert11 may be tacked. However, in the preferred form of the invention whichis illustrated, the flanges 12 are provided with groove forming membersand the peripheral edges of the premolded insert are snapped into thegroove forming members and covered with an ornamental plastic or rubberbeading 13.

The principal elements of the premolded insert are two end roll formingmembers 15 and two side roll forming members 16, the lower side rollbeing covered by a strip of loose fabric 17 which drops into the casketand masks the hinges by which the top section is mounted on the casket.

While the invention herein is described as combined with fabric coveredend and side rolls of a particular configuration, it is to be understoodthat the invention is not restricted to this particular organization.For example, the rolls need not be fabric covered but could be paintedor formed from a decorative plastic. Further, for certain type ofcaskets, only one top and two side rolls can be employed with theinvention.

The invention is directed principally toward the formation of the insertl1 and this is best illustrated by referring to FIG. 2. Preliminarilythe rolls 15 and 16 are joined together to form a rectangular frameindicated at 20. At the inner edges of each roll 15 or 16, inwardlydirected flanges 21 and 22 are formed, the flanges being adapted toreceive the central panel.

The central panel is formed principally of a backing member 23 which maybe of paperboard or other suitable material, in the preferred form ofthe invention, and a decorated plastic sheet 24. The decorated plasticsheet is formed in a known plastic molding operation wherein a diehaving the desired configuration is adapted to receive a sheet overlyingthe configurated surface of the die. The plastic sheet should be atleast 0.040 inch thick for reasons set forth below. The assembly israised to an elevated temperature and the space between the die and thesheet is evacuated to draw the sheet into the die configurations. Thus adesired design such as that shown in FIG. 1 is vacuum molded into thesheet. The sheet may be subjected to a further decorating operation asdesired.

The thus formed sheet has notches or slots 25 formed in its peripheraledges at regularly spaced positions thereon. The sheet is applied to thepaperboard backing member by two staples 26 applied centrally of sideedges 27. These staples are applied to hold the sheet in position on thebacking member 23 until the sheet and backing member are secured to theframe 20 but without unduly confining the periphery of the plastic sheetto the extent that warping occurs when the sheet is subjected to widetemperature variations. It should be understood that other securingmeans including rivets and adhesive could be used as well as the staples26.

The backing member 23 and plastic sheet 24 are secured to the flanges 21and 22 of the frame 26 with the plastic sheet being sandwiched betweenthe flanges and the paperboard backing member. Staples are securedbetween the backing member and the flanges at the locations of the slots25 so that the backing member 23 is securely fastened to the framemember 26 without passing any staples through the plastic member. Thuswhen the assembly is completed, the plastic sheet 24 may be consideredto be floated between the frame member 20 and the backing member 23.When the plastic member is subjected to elevated temperatures, it ispermitted to expand freely in its own plane whereby the stressesincurred by the change in temperature are dissipated in the expansion orcontraction of the plastic sheet with respect to the backing member andflanges 21 and 22 between which it is sandwiched.

There is, of course, a certain amount of friction from the backingmembers and the flanges 21 and 22 which tends to resist expansion andcontraction. If the plastic sheet is too thin, it has not the strengthnecessary to overcome the frictional forces and will warp. A sheet whichis at least approximately 0.040 inch thick does have sufiicient strengthto expand against the restraining frictional forces and will performsatisfactorily.

Assembly of the center panel and frame member 20 is facilitated by theapparatus illustrated in FIG. 5. A fixture 3%} having a plurality ofstapling anvils 31 around its periphery is provided to support thebacking member 23, the plastic sheet 24 and frame member 20 with the itsflanges 21 and 22 adapted to overlie the anvils 31.

The anvils 31 cooperate with staple guns 32 which are divided into foursections, two end sections being indicated at 34 and the two sidesections being indicated at 35. The staple guns of the end sections 34are fixed on mounts 36, the mounts being interconnected by motiontransmitting mechanism not shown which will cause the mounts to be movedtoward and away from each other simultaneously. Similarly, the stapleguns of sections 35 are fixed on mounts 37 which are interconnected bymotion transmitting means not shown to permit their simultaneousmovement toward and away from each other.

In the assembly operation, the plastic sheet is molded and has slots cutin the peripheral edges. Two staples 26 are applied to the side edgeportion of the plastic sheet to secure it to the backing member 23. Theassembled plastic sheet and paperboard backing member are positioned onthe fixture 30 with the plastic sheet facing upwardly. The end rollforming members 15 are placed on the plastic sheet as indicated in FIG.with their flanges 22 overlying the marginal portions of the plasticsheet and backing member. The end sections of staple guns 34 are thenmoved toward each other into proper position and, having arrived at theproper position, apply their staples to secure the backing member 23 tothe flanges 22. The staples pass through the slots 25 formed in theplastic sheet so as to avoid contact with the plastic sheet.

After the joining of the panel to the end flanges 22, the staple guns ofsection 34 are moved away from each other and the side roll formingmembers 16 are positioned in place as described above. The staple gunsof section 35 are moved toward each other until they arrive at theproper position for stapling. Then staples are passed through thebacking member 23 and the side flanges 21 to secure them together whileavoiding contact with the plastic sheet. Thereafter the members 15 and16 are curved to form the rolls and are stapled at their ends to formthe mitered corners.

The insert having thus been formed, it is assembled to the casket lid ina manner described in the patents referred to above or in any othersuitable manner. When installed, the decorative central panel will befree to expand and contract under varying atmospheric conditions withoutdisturbing its appearance by Warping.

I claim:

1. A simulated upholstery insert for caskets comprising roll members inengagement at their ends to form a frame, each said roll member having aflange at its inner edge, a flat paperboard panel backing member stapledat a plurality of positions to said flanges, and a decorative plasticsheet stapled centrally to said backing member and having its peripheraledges sandwiched between the edges of said backing member and saidflanges, said sheet having slots in its edges formed at the location ofsaid staples whereby said panel is free to expand and contract withoutbowing.

2. A simulated upholstery insert for caskets comprising roll members inengagement at their ends to form a frame, each said roll member having aflange at its inner edge, a flat paperboard panel backing member stapledat a plurality of positions to said flanges, and a decorative plasticsheet having its peripheral edges sandwiched between the edges of saidbacking member and said flanges, said sheet having slots in its edgesformed at the location of said staples whereby said panel is free toexpand and contract without bowing.

3. A simulated upholstery insert for caskets comprising roll members inengagement at their ends to form a frame, a flat panel backing memberstapled at a plurality of positions to the inner edges of said rollmembers, and a decorative molded sheet having its peripheral edgessandwiched between the edges of said backing member and said flanges,said sheet having slots in its edges formed at the location of saidstaples whereby said panel is free to expand and contract withoutbowing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,658,626 Allen Feb. 7, 1928 1,971,923 tern Aug. 28, 1934 2,109,910Rosenmund Mar. 1, 1938 2,544,168 Lusby Mar. 6, 1951 2,637,137 Flynn May5, 1953 2,664,615 Hillenbrand et al. Jan. 5, 1954 2,947,059 HillenbrandAug. 5, 1960 3,077,016 White Feb. 12, 1963

1. A SIMULATED UPHOLSTERY INSERT FOR CASKETS COMPRISING ROLL MEMBERS INENGAGEMENT AT THEIR ENDS TO FORM A FRAME, EACH SAID ROLL MEMBER HAVING AFLANGE AT ITS INNER EDGE, A FLAT PAPERBOARD PANEL BACKING MEMBER STAPLEDAT A PLURALITY OF POSITIONS TO SAID FLANGES, AND A DECORATIVE PLASTICSHEET STAPLED CENTRALLY TO SAID BACKING MEMBER AND HAVING ITS PERIPHERALEDGES SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE EDGES OF SAID BACKING MEMBER AND SAIDFLANGES, SAID SHEET HAVING SLOTS IN ITS EDGES FORMED AT THE LOCATION OFSAID STAPLES WHEREBY SAID PANEL IS FREE TO EXPAND AND CONTRACT WITHOUTBOWING.